Birth of a Heartless Angel
by Logan4
Summary: The greatest scientific find in the history of humanity has just been uncovered, setting into motion a series of events which will change the life of every being on the planet...
1. Fallen Angel

Chapter 1: The Fallen Angel  
  
  
Location: Shinra HQ: Midgar.  
Time: 30 years before the events in FF7...  
  
"Hmmm, not good enough", muttered the bespectacled scientist as he peered intently through the electron microscope. "Damn! It still isn't working!" he cursed, and tossed the petri dish aside with supreme disdain. "Genetically, the Cetra were nearly identical to us. This should be working..... but it isn't. Why, goddammit!?"   
The middle-aged microbiologist slumped into a nearby chair and removed his glasses, then gingerly rubbed his eyes in order to clear his vision. After all, he had been working nearly continuously for the previous 2 days, and the long hours were beginning to catch up with him. Nontheless, this experiment was far too important to postpone simply because he was feeling fatigued, and he was determined to perservere, no matter what.  
  
"A fusion of Cetra and Human DNA should not be this difficult", he muttered to himself. "After all, the two species did inter-breed for a while before the Cetra's extinction, so their genetic material is obviously compatible. Why, then, will this refuse to work for me?"  
  
"Professor Gast!". The voice shook the man out of his self-induced trance, bringing him back to reality. He responded quickly, for he recognized the man who greeted him- Asaki, a lab attendant who regularly assisted him with his more sophisticated research. He clutched a small Data CD in his hand, and from the look on his face, Gast could tell it contained something important.  
  
"Professor, the results from the carbon-dating are back, and I think you'll find them to be extremely interesting". Asaki's face showed his own excitement at the information held on the disc, and Gast shifted position to get a closer look at the monitor of a nearby computer as Asaki loaded the CD. Roughly 6 months ago, a team of archaeologists working in the far reaches of the Northern Continent made a spectacular discovery- a corpse, apparently that of an Ancient, a Cetra. The remains were discovered near the Gaea's Cliffs, an area where the Ancients were known to have lived, which only strengthened Gast's theory that they had indeed stumbled across a long-dead member of the race. The specimen had been dubbed "Jenova", and was in a remarkably well-preserved state. This had originally puzzled Gast, but he eventually conceded that the harsh temperatures of the region would have frozen the body and prevented any tissue or cell decay. To be sure, he wanted to know just how long the body had been buried, and so he ordered a carbon-dating of the rock-bed which surrounded it. And now, finally, the results were back...  
  
"2,000 years? Is that accurate?" were the first words Asaki uttered after the data came onscreen. "Could it really have been in the ground that long and have remained in such good condition?".  
"I believe so", Gast replied. "Think about it. 2,000 years ago: that was when the Cetra began to die out, and we have accepted that this corspe is indeed Cetra. 2,000 years ago is the latest possible time it could have died. They were still around at that time, and we know for a fact that it isn't human, so what else could it be? If only we had another sample of Ancient DNA to compare it with.....".  
  
Gast scanned through the set of figures on the monitor one last time. The geological stratum that Jenova was discovered in was 2,000 years old: logic then dictates that Jenova died 2,000 years ago, and that she was indeed an Ancient, since genetic testing had proven that she was not human. Logic did nothing to assuage his doubts however: since he knew in his heart that something was terribly wrong. Every time he looked at the remains of Jenova, a horrible sense of foreboding and fear swept through him. Some might call it premonition, but not Gast: he was a man of science, and had no time for such silly superstitions. Still, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself, the same nagging doubts would return to haunt him, again and again and again.  
  
Asaki retrieved the disc and left, since he knew from past experience that Professor Gast was not fond of any interference whilst in the midst of an experiment. Gast returned to his microscope, observing a small collection of Jenova cells under the lens. Using the mortified cells from Jenova, he had been able to synthesise new, fully alive and active cellular material that was 100% identical to the original source cells. It was these cells he was attempting to fuse with human DNA. Folklore from areas which had previously been Ancient colonies dicates that the Cetra possessed tremendous powers, both magical and mental. Unlike humans, they did not need materia in order to use magic. They were an extremely intuitive race who were capable of such incredible feats as "planet-reading": communicating with the very planet itself. Imagine if a being could be created with such abilities, with the wisdom and knowledge of the Ancients. Imagine the possibilities. By merging human and Cetra cells in a procedure similar to conception, Gast hoped to create a new form of life- a Cetra/ human hybrid with all these skills, and possibly more.  
  
Gast was anxious to complete the project, since he knew that the Shinra executives were closely following his progress. Heidegger and Scarlet in particular; the President had ordered them to take special interest in this experiment, saying that it would be pivotal in determining the outcome of the war raging in the far West, near Wutai. Since Heidegger and Scarlet were in charge of the bulk of Shinra's military operations, this was all the incentive they needed to keep a close eye on Gast. They never approached him directly, but Gast knew that they regularly squeezed information out of his assistants in order to determine just how well the experiment was going.  
  
Gast knew exactly what President Shinra was hoping for. Originally, instead of creating a new lifeform, the President had hoped to infuse existing members of the Shinra's army with both Jenova's cells and large quantities of Mako radiation, granting them the abilities of the Cetra, and raising their combat potential to an unprecedented new level. A reactor was constructed in the Nibel Mountains for the dual purpose of shipping and processing Mako energy, but also as a holding ground for human test subjects that had been deemed worthy of being infused with Jenova cells. The result of the experiment was an elite strike force which was tentatively labelled "SOLDIER".  
Soon enough though, problems began to emerge. The majority of test subjects were unable to survive the sheer energy infusion and began to slowly die, thus rendering the experiment useless.  
Gast had then put forward a theory of his own- if they were unable to infuse humans with Cetra DNA, then why not create a new being from scratch with the DNA of both races? The idea was accepted, and Gast's experiment began soon after. But, no matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn't work....  
  
Asaki knocked quietly, then stepped nervously inside the darkened lab. If Professor Gast was busy, then he could very well be thrown out again if he made too much of a disturbance, so he moved as silently as possible. He had forgotten his clip-board after he reviewed the Data CD, and he was determined to retrieve it before Gast misplaced it himself. A smile cut across Asaki's face,"Heh, what a fine pair we are. The two absent-minded professors..." He noticed the board on a nearby terminal, grabbed it, and prepared to exit the lab when he spotted Gast...  
  
It was not unusual to find the Professor like this: in a state of extreme concentration, some might even call it meditation, but something was different this time. His eyes shone with an intensity and inspiration that Asaki had never before seen in the man. Asaki simply stared at him for what seemed like hours, before cautiously speaking for the first time since he entered the lab, "Professor Gast?". Gast raised his hand, and held up one finger, indicating for Asaki to be silent. "I've got it. By God, I've got it..." he whispered. That said, he leapt to his feet and ran out of the lab... 


	2. Designation.

Chapter 2: Designation   
  
7 Months Later:  
"So Hojo, have you come up with a name yet?", Gast enquired. It was merely small-talk, and the two scientists smiled, very different smiles. Hojo's was more of an indifferent smirk, while Gast's was of genuine amusement. Gast really didn't like the man- he was cold and heartless, more at home with test-tubes than people, but he was an exceptional scientist, Gast had to at least admit that. Because of him and Lucrecia, the Jenova Project was finally beginning to show some results, and they only had to wait another 2 months to see if those results were truly worth the effort.  
  
When Gast realised 7 months ago that creating a Cetra/Human hybrid in a laboratory would be impossible, he also came upon another realisation. It was decided by himself and several of the professors in charge of running the Jenova Project that Lucrecia, herself a Shinra scientist, become pregnant, thus providing a suitable child for the experiment. Hojo, already slightly infused with Jenova cells, impregnated Lucrecia, providing the Jenova Project with it's long-awaited worthy subject. That was 7 months ago. Lucrecia was now in her third trimester with only 2 months left until she gave birth.  
  
"No, I wouldn't be any good at deciding something like that", Hojo replied. "After all, I believe Lucrecia has already decided on the child's name. She's going to call him Sephiroth....". 


	3. Potential Revealed.

Chapter 3: Potential Revealed.   
  
7 Years Later:  
"Unbelievable! I can't even come close to following his movements!", exclaimed the Senior Technician. Behind him stood Gast, Hojo, and a small team of scientists, observing the actions of the being inside the Training Chamber. The room was heavily shielded, mainly to give protection to anyone who happened to be standing outside it whenever it was in use. Only the best of the best were given access to the Chamber- the members of SOLDIER: First Class. It was the size of a large warehouse, with only one viewing panel, and numerous sources of light embedded in the ceiling. This is where the First Class SOLDIERS's trained whenever they were not on an active mission. Monsters from various locations around the world were captured, released into the room, and pitted against the warriors in a no-holds-barred match to the death. Usually, it took the SOLDIER at least 10 minutes to dispose of the threat. The room's present occupant had done it in less than 10 seconds.  
Gast leaned forward and placed his hand on the technicians' shoulder, "Activate the 'com system. I want to talk to him". The technician nodded in acknowledgement, flipped a nearby switch, then turnded to Gast, "Okay, he can hear you now".  
  
"Sephiroth". The voice echoed through the Chamber, and the child turned to face the viewing window. It never ceased to amaze Gast just how quickly the boy had matured: he was 7 years of age, but he possessed strength and skills which had been previously unseen on the planet, and whenever Gast looked into his cold blue eyes, he knew that somone much wiser than he was staring back at him.  
"We're going to release another monster, much stronger than the last one, so be prepared, and do your best". Sephiroth smirked, and turned away, his long white hair whipping around him like a cloak. In his hand he gripped his favourite weapon- the Masamune Blade, a thin, sleek sword which was nearly three times as long as him. A small boy holding such a large sword should have looked ridiculous, but for some reason, whenever Sephiroth handled that weapon, he resembled an Angel of Death.  
  
Gast switched off the 'com, and returned to his place beside the scientists. "What are we releasing again?" he queried. The technician checked his screen, "Uh, let's see. Oh yes, a Vlakorados- a bipedal reptilian monster from the Icicle region. Extremely tough- it has a huge amount of Hit Points, he'll have to be on the ball to get rid of this thing safely". Gast nodded approvingly, and indicated for the technician to release the opponent. He pushed a large red button on his console, causing a cage to rise out of the floor in the Training Chamber. That done, he pushed another, less ominous button, and the cage collapsed, releasing the angry Vlakorados into the room.  
  
Sephiroth faced down the oncoming threat with bored nonchalance, barely even moving a muscle as the titanic monster charged towards him. The room was large, yes, but the Vlakorados crossed it in mere seconds, then lowered it's head to deal the fatal blow to what it believed was an easy meal. At this point, Gast became agitated; no matter how good Sephiroth was, if he didn't move within the next few seconds he would have a few ruptured internal organs to deal with. Inside the chamber, Sephiroth tensed as the monsters' huge teeth came within a few feet of his head. In one blindingly fast motion, he whipped his right hand, the one carrying the Masamune, upwards and to the left, severing the monsters' head at the neck, decapitating it in one fluid stroke. Blood splattered his face, and he smiled, licking some from around his mouth. The head was tossed aside, but it's lifeless body had gained a lot of forward momentum, and began to collapse in Sephiroth's direction. He calmy sheathed his sword, raised his hand towards the huge mass, and fired an enormous energy beam, splitting the remains into hundreds of harmless pieces, and causing a huge amount of blood to stain the inside of the chamber. All this happened in less than 5 seconds.  
  
The scientists were amazed. "That looked like an Elemental attack- Fire3 perhaps. I thought you didn't give him any materia", said Hojo. "We didn't", Gast replied. "He did that all by himself...".  
  
The armoured door to the Chamber swung open, and Sephiroth calmly exited, covered in blood from head to toe. He was extremely pleased with himself- his skills, impressive as they already were, improved every single day, largely due to these training sessions. He tossed his head in the direction of the scientists, "I'm going to rest now. There will be no more testing today". He gave the Training Chamber one last look, "Heh, someone should really clean that up. How about you Hojo? You seem well suited to work like that..". Gast couldn't help but smile- Sephiroth had never tried to hide his distaste for Hojo, and belittled him at every possible opportunity. From the look on his face, Gast could tell that Hojo was furious, but he couldn't do anything in retaliation- he didn't want to anger Sephiroth after all. The boy turned and left the room, a satisfied smirk on his face. 


	4. Fear.

Chapter 4: Fear  
  
Later that night, Gast reviewed the test data they had retrieved from Sephiroths' training session. The figures were astounding, but that was simply something he had come to accept when dealing with the boy.  
"Hmm, let's see. Heart rate- 300bpm. Hyperbolic metabolism. Neural readings off the chart. Amazing, simply amazing". Sephiroth was showing signs of having heightened olfactory senses, and a metabolism that worked at least 4 times faster than the average human. "That was probably what allowed to to move so fast, and to react so quickly. Conceivably, he could even heal from injuries at an incredible rate".  
  
This bothered Gast- the Cetra were not supposed to be this powerful. Over the past 7 years, Sephiroth had been under close examination, and several inconsistencies gradually began to emerge. The Cetra were a docile and gentle race: Sephiroth was anything but that. He showed incredible aggression at times, and his skill as a warrior would only improve with age. These were not Cetra characteristics. But, he was created with Jenova's cells, and Jenova was a Cetra, so Sephiroth should be as well.  
  
Still, those same doubts from 7 years ago continued to plague him. 2,000 years ago: that was the beginning of the end for the Cetra, and for Jenova. Jenova's corpse was found at the Knowlespole, where something had crashed from the heavens many centuries ago, creating the Gaea's Cliffs and a massive crater. It had never been discovered just what had landed in that area. Was it just a coincidence that Jenova had been discovered near the impact site? And was it a coincidence that the Cetra became extict at almost exactly the same time? And, most importantly, why was Sephiroth, supposedly a human/Cetra hybrid, showing traits that were very un-like any documented Cetra behavioural patterns? It all pointed to one very unpleasant possibility, but Gast was unwilling to accept that probability at this time. He would continue to watch and learn as Sephiroth grew, and attempt to solve the mysteries surrounding his origin.  
  
He just hoped he had not done anything he would come to regret in the future... 


End file.
